Not every movie star works for every audience.  There are people who make me happy every time they show up in a movie, and they haven't caught on with the mainstream for whatever reason, and there are movie stars I find baffling.  Often, fandom finds itself divided along gender lines for reasons both obvious and not so obvious.  What studios and filmmakers always hope for is a star who unites people, and Emma Stone appears to be just such a star.

There are many reasons people find her appealing.  She's got great comic timing, and she seems to handle herself just as well in interviews as she does when her dialogue is scripted.  She also rarely seems to take fame seriously, which is a healthy attitude.  She's been smart so far about the films she's chosen and the collaborators she works with, and if anyone in her age group is poised for a long and interesting career, it's her.

Earlier in the week, I ran a short excerpt from our interview where she talked about how they're getting ready to start work on "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" next week. I have no idea if they're going to eventually have her Gwen Stacy meet the same fate as the comic book Gwen Stacy, but I would be shocked if they are in any hurry to do so even if that is their plan.  The one thing that seemed fairly undeniable about the first film was her chemistry with Andrew Garfield, and that's something I would want to exploit in that series for as long as possible.

While her "Spider-Man" chemistry seems to have spilled over into real life, she also shares sensational chemistry with Ryan Gosling, something that made "Crazy Stupid Love" into more than it seemed to be on the page.  One of the things that makes "Gangster Squad" interesting is seeing the two of them together again, and we talked about that a bit, and also about what it's like to do a film set in a time when there was no such thing as dressing casually.  Stone is one of those people I will most likely be interviewing on a regular basis for as long as I'm writing about movies.

Sounds good to me.

"Gangster Squad" opens everywhere tomorrow.

Drew McWeeny
Film Editor

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A respected critic and commentator for fifteen years, Drew McWeeny helped create the online film community as "Moriarty" at Ain't It Cool News, and now proudly leads two budding Film Nerds in their ongoing movie education.